Plant Encyclopedia

Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.

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Bloodgood Japanese Maple

Bloodgood is the classic deep-red Japanese maple, holding its dark burgundy-purple leaf color through summer better than most cultivars before turning crimson in fall. It is an elegant upright specimen tree.

tree

Scotch Pine

Scotch Pine is a widespread evergreen conifer known for its distinctive orange-red upper bark and blue-green twisted needles. It is one of the most common Christmas trees and a major timber species.

tree

Honey Locust

Honey locust is a fast-growing deciduous tree with fine, fern-like compound leaves casting light dappled shade; wild forms have fierce branching thorns and long twisted seed pods, but thornless cultivars dominate landscaping.

tree

Southern Live Oak

Southern Live Oak is a massive, spreading evergreen oak of the American Deep South, famous for its broad canopy draped in Spanish moss. It is among the longest-lived and most iconic trees of the region.

tree

Tamarack

Tamarack is a hardy North American deciduous conifer of cold bogs and wetlands, turning glowing gold each autumn before shedding its soft needles. It is one of the most cold-tolerant trees in North America.

tree

Apache Pine

A southwestern pine of the Sierra Madre and Arizona–New Mexico borderlands, notable for very long, drooping needles and a grass-like seedling stage. Young trees resemble a tuft of grass before the trunk elongates.

tree

Red Maple

Red maple is one of North America's most widespread and adaptable trees, prized for its brilliant scarlet fall color and early red flowers. It thrives in a remarkable range of soils, from swamps to dry ridges.

tree

Korean Fir

Korean Fir is a compact, slow-growing conifer famous for producing showy violet-blue upright cones even on young trees. Its short needles show silvery undersides, making it a favorite garden and dwarf-conifer specimen.

tree

Juniper

A tough, evergreen coniferous shrub (some species small trees) with needle-like or scale-like foliage and blue berry-like cones. Junipers range from low groundcovers to upright forms and thrive in poor, dry soils.

shrub

Aloe Vera

Aloe vera is a hardy succulent with thick, fleshy leaves arranged in a rosette and filled with a clear inner gel. It is easy to grow on a sunny windowsill and needs very little water.

succulent

Lavender

An aromatic Mediterranean shrub-herb grown for its fragrant purple flower spikes and silvery foliage. Lavender thrives on sun, lean soil, and minimal water.

herb

Hardy Geranium

Hardy geranium, or cranesbill, is a tough, long-lived perennial that forms spreading mounds of deeply lobed leaves covered in saucer-shaped flowers. Unlike the tender bedding "geraniums" (Pelargonium), these true geraniums are cold-hardy and low-maintenance.

flower

Cardamom

Cardamom is a tropical, shade-loving relative of ginger grown for its aromatic seed pods. A spice plant, it needs warmth, humidity and patience.

herb

Lily

True lilies are summer-blooming bulbs with large, often fragrant, trumpet-shaped flowers on tall stems. They are easy garden perennials prized in borders and as cut flowers.

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Jasmine

A climbing shrub famous for intensely fragrant, star-shaped white flowers that perfume summer evenings. Common jasmine is vigorous and grown on trellises and walls.

shrub

Grape Ivy

Grape Ivy is a vigorous climbing or trailing vine with glossy, toothed leaves resembling grapevine foliage. Tolerant of lower light and easy to grow, it's a classic for hanging baskets and trellises.

houseplant

Painted Dropwing

Important note: the Painted Dropwing (also called the violet dropwing) is not a plant but a dragonfly, Trithemis annulata. Mature males are a striking violet-pink with red-veined wings, often seen perched at the edges of warm ponds and streams.

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Carnation

A classic frilled flower with a spicy, clove-like scent, available in many colors and prized as a long-lasting cut flower. Carnations like sun and well-drained soil.

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Rhododendron

A large genus of evergreen and deciduous shrubs famed for spectacular spring trusses of bell- or funnel-shaped flowers. They thrive in acidic, moist, well-drained woodland soils with dappled light.

shrub

Beardtongue

A North American native perennial with upright spikes of tubular, two-lipped flowers in white, pink, purple, or red. Loved by hummingbirds and bees, and tough in lean, well-drained soil.

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Astragalus

A hardy perennial legume native to northern China and nearby regions, grown for its long, fibrous taproot. It is drought-tolerant and thrives in well-drained soils.

herb

Blueberry

Blueberries are deciduous fruiting shrubs grown for their round, dusty-blue berries. They demand acidic, moist, well-drained soil and reward growers with both fruit and brilliant autumn color.

shrub

Sea Thrift

Sea thrift is a compact, evergreen coastal perennial forming tidy cushions of grassy foliage topped with round pink pompom flowers. It is exceptionally tough, thriving in poor, salty, well-drained soils.

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Speedwell

Speedwell is a hardy perennial prized for its upright spikes of densely packed blue, purple, pink or white flowers that bloom for weeks in summer. It is a magnet for bees and butterflies and thrives in sunny, well-drained borders.

flower